Kasey Fowler-Finn

Kasey Fowler-Finn has been fascinated by arachnids like spiders and daddy longlegs since she was a small child. She now gets to live her dream by studying them. Her research focuses on how changes in the world affect how animals survive and communicate with one another - such as during mating. Particularly with the rapid changes our earth is experiencing, predicting these changes can be important for understanding how biodiversity will be affected by global climate change.

One of Kasey's passions is to train undergraduate and citizen researchers in the scientific process. Involving students and the public in her research has not only been exciting and educational, but has also helped push her science forward. Many of her co-authors on published scientific articles are undergraduates that continue on to careers in science and medicine, and many papers acknowledge local groups for their efforts in collecting animals for experimentation.

Toby - I have seen some behavior that was expected, and some unexpected. This has been a great way to start thinking about their mating a little differently. I am going to post a video today that shows some of the ways females reject the males. In some species it is quite violent, in others the males "get the point" pretty quickly!

$44 more to go - thanks so much for every one who has backed me so far. Spread the word to anyone who might be interested in this project.
Also: I'm aiming to have a 'video of the day' July 18-23 when I'm in Virginia - if I find enough species, you will see a wide variety of mating behavior!

Hi Oscar - thanks for asking! You can find them throughout most of central and eastern US and into Canada. They are one of the most common species, and once you nail down a search image, you will be seeing them everywhere!

Sue/Tom: the work from this summer made possible with your backing will help answer this question! For now, the main hypothesis I am testing is that some species have far fewer females around, and so every mating attempt is critical for a male. Because females can fertilize many eggs with one mating, they don't need to mate with a ton of males. Any time spent mating is time lost that they could have spent foraging for food to grow their eggs. This conflict between males and females in how often they want to mate may lead to males being more pursuant and females being more resistant. I have a few more hypotheses that I am also testing that I will share in the field notes as my field season progresses!

Thank you all so much for your support. I'm 67% there and looking for a few more backers to reach my goal! Please forward this link onto anyone you think might be interested in getting involved in a super fun project (https://experiment.com/projects/why-do-daddy-longlegs-fight-during-mating)